Friday Digital Digest 22/03/2024 - X moves closer to P2P payments, gambling companies find advertising loopholes, and what actually are algorithms?
There are some interesting developments as X moves closer to peer-to-peer payments, TikTok expands its commercial sounds library, and there are calls for stricter rules as gambling companies use content marketing to circumnavigate advertising codes of practice.
NEWS
TikTok have expanded their commercial sounds library by adding pre recorded audios by top influencers, allowing business to use these in their promo royalty free. The sounds are not custom however, so may have limited capacity in use.?
What is interesting is the stats around sound, which counter the previous generations preference of listening without sound, on TikTok a staggering 88% of users agree sound plays a part in their enjoyment of the app - we may see this spread to other platforms in due course.
There are fears that content marketing betting ads will lead people into early gambling habits and debt.
The research by University of Bristol also found that young people were less able to correctly identify content marketing as advertising (43%) in comparison to adults (65%).?
Sir Iain Duncan Smith has voiced concern that such companies are using content marketing to circumnavigate advertising codes of practice. This could lead onto much bigger discussion on content accountability for platforms overall.
There are reports that Apple is in discussions with Google to bring their AI engine into the next series of iPhones. However there were similar discussions with OpenAI so nothing is set in stone.
If Apple does go ahead with one of the above it could boost that AI engines usership vastly and give them unparalleled new data to refine their engines.
Musk’s X platform (aka Twitter) is getting closer to winning money transmitter licence in the states of New York and California, enabling peer-to-peer transactions over the network. Meta have tried this in the past via their own cryptocurrency venture, but this could set the precedent for others to follow.?
The bigger question is, if successful, whether this is something that is wholly useful outside of the US, with many countries allowing seamless bank transfers already.
Chinese authorities have been inviting followers of a dissident ‘for tea’ a euphemism for police questioning and encouraging them to unfollow accounts they deem “sensitive”. The dissident is an artist, Li Ying, who rose to prominence in 2022 after live-tweeting the anti zero Covid protests in China.
This comes as the US considers banning TikTok over fears of manipulation via the app.
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DIGITAL DIGEST
??How Algorithms Work??
In one sentence algorithms are rules and signals that govern the platform and determine what content is shown to a user.
These signals vary from platform to platform, but are usually encompass the following:?
- People/accounts you have interacted with the most?
- Types of content you interact with the most?
- How much engagement a piece of content has received (what we know as viral posts)?
- Posts that encourage more time spent on the platform
- Posts with hashtags that you follow
The platforms then use the above signals to recommend content from users or accounts you don’t follow who are resonating with people who have similar interests to you.
Each platform places weight on different signals, so it's imperative to understand what your chosen platform prioritises and create content that feeds into this.
The pros of this is that you see the content you are really interested in and discover new accounts or users within that niche. For influencers and companies it allows them to reach more targeted audiences.
The cons are what we’re already seeing, polarisation, a lack of real random discovery and it can create a real narrow view of what reality actually is, especially critical with stats around how easily audiences can identify advertising v organic user content.
WORTH A LISTEN ??
Stories are powerful. That’s why it’s important to understand how these stories can shape our society and impact our economies.
Nobel Prize winning economist - Robert Shiller’s book ‘Narrative Economics’ looks at how an idea can be contagious and create a real shift in the status quo (and I’m not talking about the band) and by understanding how narratives of the past have shaped economic reaction and how policy makers are utilising this for good and bad.??
He also gave a lecture on this topic at LSE back in 2019, and you can listen to his lecture on this topic via the LSE website. I would encourage you to do so.